If Boris Johnson defends his policies with rhetoric, Rishi Sunak does so with statistics. The British prime minister traveled this Monday to Dover, the British coastal city closest to continental Europe (origin of the Eurotunnel which connects to the French city of Calais) to defend his plan against irregular immigration by numbers. “From January to May this year,…

If Boris Johnson defends his policies with rhetoric, Rishi Sunak does so with statistics. The British prime minister traveled this Monday to Dover, the British coastal city closest to continental Europe (origin of the Eurotunnel which connects to the French city of Calais) to defend his plan against irregular immigration by numbers. “From January to May this year, the number of ships that have tried to cross [el canal de la Mancha] has been reduced by 20% [respecto al mismo periodo de 2022]. That is, in the fifth part. We’ve never seen that before. And these are special figures for Great Britain, because in Europe they have increased by more than 30% ”, believes Sunak.

The UK Home Office has begun publishing updated figures for people being held in canals as the problem grows exponentially year on year. In 2019, barely 1,900 immigrants were detained after their journey. In 2022, the number will reach nearly 46,000. In the first five months of this year, said Sunak, the number of people controlled by the border police was 7,600.

Most of the measures announced by the British Government to stop the arrival of small boats are still projects on paper, but the Prime Minister believes they had a deterrent effect that helped stop attempts to reach British shores. Not hosted yet aunt stockholm, docked in Portland harbour, the half-thousand male immigrants Downing Street announced in early April. And Sunak had anticipated this Monday that he would have acquired two more giant ships that critics of the government’s immigration policies have defined as floating prisons. The two facilities will make it possible to host another 1,000 immigrants.

“We have to reduce the number of hotels used to accommodate them [según cálculos de la BBC —el Gobierno no ha dado cifras—, unos 395 establecimientos en los que viven más de 51.000 solicitantes de asilo]because their presence creates tension in the society in which they are located. In addition to the costs it generates, around six million pounds (6.9 million euros) per day. It’s not fair and we need to reduce the figures,” said Sunak. The prime minister linked the improvement in the situation to a security agreement signed with France to jointly patrol and finance control of its coasts; or a pact signed with Albania or Bulgaria to fight mafias that control irregular immigration and to quickly return nationals arriving on UK shores.By 2022, a quarter of those detained will be Albanians.So far this year, France has prevented some 33,000 people from crossing the channel, according to Sunak.40% more than a year before.

Deportation to Rwanda is frozen

The reality, however, is that the deportation of immigrants to Rwanda, a major government move hailed by the hard wing of the Conservative Party, has yet to start, after the European Court of Human Rights quit. in extreme in June last year the first flight. And Sunak’s government is more determined to amend the European Convention on Human Rights, to avoid another such intervention, than to start using rwandan solution.

The Illegal Immigration Act, which considers the possibility of quickly expelling illegal immigrants, without the right to ask for asylum, has completed its first process in the House of Commons, but starting this week will face stiff opposition from many lawmakers. Lords, including the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, who questioned his humanity or respect for international law. Final approval of the text could be delayed until the end of the year.

“This law makes it clear that anyone who comes to this country illegally [Sunak se resiste a hablar de “inmigración irregular”, como solicita Naciones Unidas] you won’t be able to stay. It will be sent immediately to its place of origin, if it is safe, or otherwise to Rwanda or a third country,” stressed the conservative leader, who highlighted, in a direct message to the House of Lords, how important it was to him that the text finally come into force.

By the arrival of the boats, the prime minister symbolized his fight against illegal immigration, one of the obsessions of the Conservative Party. Sunak once promised to halve numbers during his tenure, but has chosen not to repeat that promise.

Just 10 days ago, the Office for National Statistics revealed that the net balance of immigrants arriving in the UK in 2022 will be 606,000 people, a record 24% more than the 488,000 people registered a year earlier. And the paradox is that the balance of immigrants coming from the EU during that period was negative, hindered by Brexit trying to regain control of the border, and it only managed to close those borders to EU citizens, while the numbers of new arrivals were arriving from all over the world.

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